‘I’ll only keep you for a few minutes,’ he said, ‘and I promise I’ll bring you back.’

No plan to charge back to Essex just yet then.

‘All right,’ I agreed, thinking that now he was here, I really had no choice, ‘wait there.’

I padded back upstairs, pulled on some clothes and tamed my hair into a ponytail.

‘You’re looking really well,’ Dad smiled when, just a couple of minutes later, I locked the cottage door and climbed into the car. ‘That tan looks more West Indies than Wynmouth and it’s been years since I’ve seen you with so many freckles.’

That was most likely because it was years since he’d seen me without make-up.

‘And I’d forgotten how much your hair curls,’ he carried on. ‘It looks just like your mother’s used to before she started to straighten it.’

I wasn’t much in the mood to listen to him harking back to the good old days, especially when his reminiscing included Mum.

‘So, where are we going?’ I asked, shrugging off his seemingly light-hearted chat.

His small talk was rather unnerving. As a rule, Dad’s feet were firmly planted in the ‘if you haven’t got anything constructive to say, then don’t say anything,’ camp, but that morning for some reason he’d switched sides and the only reason for defecting that I could come up with, was because he was working his way up to saying something he wasn’t sure about. The chattiness was completely out of character and I didn’t like it, not one little bit.

‘There’s a café right on the beach I rather like the look of,’ he said, turning up the lane which led back to The Green. ‘I daresay you know it already.’

I did of course, but I didn’t ask how he did. The route into the village would hardly have taken him along the seafront and past Sophie’s door.

‘It won’t be open yet,’ I said instead, checking the time. ‘It won’t be open for at least another hour.’

But, unexpectedly, it was.

‘Good morning,’ said Sophie, when we entered.

Dad had ignored the ‘closed’ sign and walked straight in, holding the door open for me to follow him.

‘Morning,’ he said back.

‘What can I get you both?’ Sophie asked.

She didn’t appear to be quite her usual sunny self, but then it was still early. Not that I really thought the time would influence Sophie’s mood. She always had a ready smile and was full of cheer.

‘Just a coffee for me, please,’ said Dad.

‘And I’ll have the same,’ I said, ‘thanks.’